Norway 2025 – GC Powerlist
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Norway 2025

Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel

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  • Industries

  • Powerlist

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Aaron McParlan

General counsel | Opera

Information technology

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Adam Todd

EVP and General counsel | Archer - the well company

Energy and utilities

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Alessandra Gori

Senior legal counsel | Nexans

Energy and utilities

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Anders Vinje Vatland

General counsel | TotalEnergies

Energy and utilities

Andreas A. Vartdal-Viken

General counsel | Brødrene Dahl AS/Saint-Gobain Distribution Norway AS

Consumer products

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Ane Løchen Johnstad

General counsel | Alliance Healthcare Norge Apotekdrift AS

Consumer products

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Anne Margrete Ringheim

General counsel | TOMRA Collection Solutions

Commercial and professional services

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Annette Sommer

VP Head of legal, corporate & administration | Norsk Hydro

Materials and mining

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Arve Drageset

Head of legal | Alfred Berg

Financials

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Astrid Skjønborg Brunt

General counsel, European and international affairs | Statnett SF

Energy and utilities

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Audun Moen

Group general counsel | DNB

Financials

Axel R. Gustavsen

Chief legal officer | Cermaq Group AS

Food

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Beate Brevik

Head of legal and compliance ambassador | Siemens AS

Industrials and real estate

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Beate Nygardshaug

General counsel | Pexip Holding ASA

Information technology

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Bernard Zysman

CLO | Gjensidige Forsikring ASA

Insurance

Birte Thorsnes Øygard

CLO | Heder Bank

Financials

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Camilla Berg

General counsel | Nord Pool

Financials

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Camilla Nyhus-Møller

Chief legal & compliance officer | Höegh Evi

Industrials and real estate

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Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad

EVP legal & compliance | Orkla ASA

Consumer products

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Carsten L. Mowinckel

Legal director Scandinavia | Sopra Steria AS

Information technology

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Catharina Bartnes

Head of legal Nordic | Elkjøp Nordic AS (part of Currys plc)

Consumer products

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Cecilie Isdahl Gjelsvik

General counsel | Odfjell Drilling

Energy and utilities

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Charlotte Aslaugberg

Head of legal | Höegh Eiendom AS

Industrials and real estate

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Charlotte Håkonsen

General counsel | Aker ASA

Financials

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Christian Karde

Group EVP and General counsel & Chief of staff | Kongsberg Gruppen

Industrials and real estate

Christian Skovly-Guttormsen

Head of Legal | Nordic Semiconductor

Information technology

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Christian Venge Tollefsen

Head of legal section | Norwegian Defence Estates Agency NDEA (Forsvarsbygg)

Industrials and real estate

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Christine Stousland 

VP Legal | Autostore AS

Industrials and real estate

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Christopher Andreas Terkelsen

General counsel | BDO AS

Commercial and professional services

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Daniel Henriksen

VP Head of legal, privacy and security management | Intility

Information technology

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Dr. Matthias Geiger

General counsel Nordics | Siemens Energy

Industrials and real estate

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Duncan Donaldson

Acting group CEO and General counsel | Altera Infrastructure

Transport and infrastructure

Eirin Knoph Larsen

Chief of staff & legal | Unloc AS

Information technology

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Elin Kvitberg

Head of legal department | Helse Nord IKT

Healthcare

Elisa Løvik Hovde

General counsel/Head of legal & GRC | BAMA Gruppen AS

Food

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Erik Skotland

Director Legal | Avinor AS

Transport and infrastructure

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Fred A. Litsheim

Chief legal & sustainability officer, General counsel | Dibber

Commercial and professional services

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Fredrick Holm-Hansen

Group legal counsel | Avinor AS

Transport and infrastructure

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Freja Skov Christensen

General counsel | GC Rieber AS

Financials

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Frida May Behrens

Group legal counsel | BAMA Gruppen AS

Food

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Frode Lillebakken

General counsel | Gelato ASA

Information technology

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Frode Strømø

General counsel | Aker Horizons

Energy and utilities

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Geir Dyngeland

Head of legal Telenor Norge AS & VP group legal Telenor ASA | Telenor

Telecommunication services

Gjermund Borger Hansen

Head of legal and financing | Ferd AS

Financials

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Gunhild Hernes Synnestvedt

EVP HSSEQ, legal & compliance | Bane NOR

Transport and infrastructure

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Gunnvor Dyrdi Remøy

General counsel | Shearwater GeoServices

Energy and utilities

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Hallgeir Østrem

EVP legal | Entra Eiendom AS

Industrials and real estate

Hanne Cecilie Røed

Head of legal Norway | If Skadeforsikring NUF

Insurance

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Hanne Kjersti Ulleren Vik

VP, Legal, Nordics | Warner Bros. Discovery

Sports and media

Harald Blaauw

EVP General counsel | Argeo ASA

Information technology

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Håvard Vikse

General counsel | EY

Financials

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Helge Lundestad

General counsel & Local head of financial crime prevention | Handelsbanken Norway

Financials

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Helge Olav Bergan

Chief legal officer | Allente Nordic

Sports and media

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Henrick Semb Rønningen

General Counsel - Chief Legal and Compliance Officer | Torvald Klaveness

Transport and infrastructure

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Ingvild Erdal

VP Legal, Head of IP | reMarkable

Consumer products

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Ingvill Saunes

General counsel | Ulstein Group ASA

Industrials and real estate

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Jason Hoida

General counsel | Otello Corporation

Information technology

Jenny Lindgren

Director and Senior counsel | Mondelez

Food

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Jenny Sveen Hovda

Group general counsel, Executive management team member | AutoStore Holdings Ltd.

Industrials and real estate

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Jesper Vogt-Lorentzen

VP, Head of legal corporate | Equinor

Energy and utilities

Joachim Røberg-Larsen

General counsel | Møller Mobility Group

Consumer products

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Joakim Forsberg

Head of legal and compliance, investment banking | Pareto Securities

Financials

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John Martin Einvik

Head of legal | Ikano Bank

Financials

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Jon Munthe

General counsel | Kongsberg Automotive

Consumer products

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Jørgen Gran

VP and General counsel | Jordanes Group

Financials

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Kjell Clement Ludvigsen

General counsel | Nortura

Food

Kjersti Bergsåker-Aspøy

EVP Legal, commercial & compliance | Petoro AS

Energy and utilities

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Knut B. Kjøsnes

General counsel | COOP Norge

Consumer products

Kristian Tønseth

Head of legal and compliance | Chooose AS

Information technology

Kristin Hungnes

Group general counsel | Sector Alarm Holding AS

Consumer products

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Kristin Schjødt Bitnes

SVP legal and General counsel | Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA

Transport and infrastructure

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Kristin Tandberg Haugsjå

EVP Legal & compliance | Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace

Transport and infrastructure

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Kristin Tingberg Sandvik

VP General counsel Nordics | The Adecco Group

Commercial and professional services

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Kristine Ryssdal

EVP and General counsel | Yara International

Consumer products

Laila Myksvoll

General counsel | reMarkable

Industrials and real estate

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Lars Espevik

General counsel business banking Nordea, Head of legal Norway, branch manager | Nordea

Financials

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Lars Fauske

General counsel | Betonmast AS

Industrials and real estate

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Lars Jacobsen

General counsel & Chief compliance officer | Aker BioMarine ASA

Healthcare

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Lars Vinden

Head of legal | Aidn

Information technology

Leif Harald Jensen

EVP legal and General counsel | Lyse AS

Energy and utilities

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Line Kornmo Fjellheim

Head of Legal Norway & Iceland | Coca-Cola

Food

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Linn Beate Woll

General counsel | AF Offshore Decom AS

Energy and utilities

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Marianne Blindheim

General counsel | Vard Group AS

Industrials and real estate

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Mette Stokke

General counsel | Deloitte AS

Commercial and professional services

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Monica Bårdseth

Chief legal & compliance officer | Viking Assistance Group AS

Consumer products

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Monina Vierneza

General counsel and Executive director for legal | CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)

Healthcare

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Morten Amundsen

Chief legal officer | OSM Thome

Transport and infrastructure

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Morten Øien

General counsel | SINTEF Manufacturing AS

Industrials and real estate

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Narve André Dahler

Head of legal | Morrow Bank ASA

Financials

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Nicolai Klever

Head of legal | Telenor Group Holdings

Telecommunication services

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Nicoline Wessel-Aas

Group legal counsel | Felleskjøpet Agri SA

Agriculture

Nina Bull

VP legal | Bulk Infrastructure Group AS

Industrials and real estate

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Nina Melandsø

General counsel | TINE SA

Food

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Ole Garborg

General counsel | Elkem ASA

Industrials and real estate

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Otto S. Roheim

General counsel | Vygruppen AS

Transport and infrastructure

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Per Christoffer Kise

Head of legal | Norwegian Air Shuttle

Transport and infrastructure

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Per Oddvar Pallum

Corporate Lawyer | Gjensidige

Insurance

Peter Sverdrup Engelschiøn

Head of legal | Tietoevry Industry

Information technology

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Ragna Bergholt Rom

Group general counsel | NorgesGruppen ASA

Consumer products

Ranjit Mahida

General counsel | Kahoot! AS

Information technology

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Rebecca Svensøy

General counsel & Head of ESG | FSN Capital Partners AS

Financials

Renate Lystad

General counsel & chief sustainability officer | Havfram

Transport and infrastructure

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Sara Neumann Habberstad

VP legal and compliance | LINK Mobility Group AS

Telecommunication services

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Sigve Reme Sand

Chief legal officer | Höegh Autoliners

Transport and infrastructure

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Simen C. Bergsmark

Senior legal counsel | Vend Marketplaces ASA

Sports and media

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Siri Birgitte Bang Berge

SVP Head of group legal | Telenor ASA

Telecommunication services

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Siv Helen Torstensen

General counsel | Equinor

Energy and utilities

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Siv Jahr

Group general counsel | Posten Bring AS

Transport and infrastructure

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Ståle Torgersbråten

Head of legal and General counsel | Eksfin - Export Finance Norway

Financials

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Stein Ove Erdal

Chief legal officer | Nel Hydrogen

Energy and utilities

Svein Staalen

General counsel | ABL Group

Energy and utilities

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Sveinung Heggen

General counsel | Borregaard

Materials and mining

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Terje Sjøvold

General counsel | OBOS

Industrials and real estate

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Thomas Berge

General counsel | Artic Securities

Financials

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Thomas Stølen

‎Head of legal Norway | Danske Bank

Financials

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Thor Jusnes

General counsel | CGI Norge

Information technology

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Tomas Myrbostad

General counsel | TV 2

Sports and media

Torbjørn Bekken

VP, Group legal director, General counsel | DNV AS

Commercial and professional services

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Tore Sande

Head of legal | Hafslund

Energy and utilities

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Vilde Aas Jakobsen

General counsel | Siemens Mobility AS

Transport and infrastructure

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Walter Salicath

Head of legal | Aera Payment & Identification AS

Financials

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I am delighted to announce the launch of Legal 500’s GC Powerlist Norway: 2025. Once again, Legal 500 is proud to recognise some of the leading in-house counsel across the country and celebrate their achievements.

I would like to extend my congratulations to all those who are featured in the 2025 edition of the Powerlist and thank everyone who contributed to this year’s research process.

As today’s legal landscape and business environment continue to rapidly evolve, in-house counsel must adapt just as quickly. ‘Modern in-house counsel must now, more than ever, be able to quickly adapt to change,’ says Ole Garborg, General Counsel at Elkem ASA, noting that ‘currently the world around us changes constantly’.

Camilla Nyhus-Møller, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Höegh Evi, agrees: ‘while the core qualities [that a modern in-house counsel should possess] remain largely unchanged, the pace at which these skills must be applied is increasing’. To ensure advice is relevant and current, in-house counsel must stay ahead of fast-moving economic, political, and regulatory developments. As Marianne Blindheim, General Counsel at Vard Group AS, succinctly puts it: ‘Speed is the new currency’.

But speed alone is not enough. In-house lawyers must also provide clear, coherent advice. “If your advice isn’t understood, it holds no real value,” says Helge Lundestad, General Counsel and Local Head of Financial Crime Prevention at Handelsbanken Norway.

Meanwhile, in-house teams are grappling with what Nina Melandsø, General Counsel at TINE SA, describes as a ‘tsunami of new regulations’ – in areas such as AI, cybersecurity, and ESG. These rapid regulatory shifts put legal teams in the spotlight, requiring ‘substantial resources and expertise to manage effectively’, she notes.

Among these challenges, ESG regulations remain at the forefront of many minds within the legal sector. ‘The general counsel role is becoming increasingly integrated in a company’s sustainability strategy,’ according to Renate Lystad General Counsel and Chief Sustainability Officer at Havfram. Melandsø agrees, emphasising that GCs can drive ESG culture through everything from trainings to monitoring and compliance systems to ensuring a culture of ESG awareness from the top down: ‘General counsel can contribute to a corporate culture that supports ESG principles in many ways’.

However, as Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad, EVP Legal & Compliance at Orkla ASA, reminds us, ‘Fostering a culture that supports ESG principles and compliance – a culture of integrity – is a joint effort.’ Legal, compliance, and ESG teams ‘need to work closely together and be aligned’.

But the rapid development, the balancing act and the challenges can ultimately be rewarding and form the basis of the in-house counsel role. As Christopher Andreas Terkelsen, General Counsel at BDO Norway, puts it: ‘No day is the same.’

GC Powerlist Japan 2025

The Legal 500 was proud to host the third edition of the GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 at the Capitol Hotel Tokyu, honouring the top General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, Legal Directors, and senior in-house legal professionals operating at the highest level of Japan’s corporate legal landscape. Held in Tokyo, this year’s reception welcomed around 100 of the most respected and senior corporate counsel from across Japan. It was an unrivalled success, and cements Legal 500’s status as the leading force in legal media supporting the achievements of in-house counsel in Japan. The GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 marks the continuation of our commitment to recognising excellence in-house, and this year’s edition represents the most competitive and selective list to date.

Joe Boswell, lead editor of the GC powerlist publication at The Legal 500, opened the evening with an introduction that reflected on the growing prestige of the Japan list. He emphasised how the Powerlist has grown stronger each year, both in scope and quality, making the task of selection more difficult. This year’s honourees emerged from a deeply competitive field, making their recognition even more meaningful.

Boswell extended heartfelt congratulations to all honourees and acknowledged the critical support of key partners and sponsors who made the evening possible. Special thanks were given to Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Morrison Foerster, iManage, JustLegal, and SS&C Intralinks for their generous sponsorship and ongoing collaboration.

In a moment of reflection, Joe paid tribute to Tim Mackey, chief legal officer at SoftBank, who sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. Tim had contributed to the Powerlist in each of its three editions and was known not only for his exceptional legal acumen but also for his warmth and generosity.

The evening featured insightful remarks from distinguished speakers representing our partners and the broader legal community: Mischa Mulligan, Japan Director at SS&C Intralinks; Hiroki Kodate, Partner and Management Committee Member at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune; Jeremy White, Global Co-Chair of M&A for Morrison Foerster; and, representing those awarded in the Powerlist, Naoki Hamada, General Counsel for Japan at HSBC.

Each speaker provided reflections on legal innovation, leadership, and the evolving role of in-house counsel in Japan’s corporate landscape. Their remarks added valuable context to the achievements celebrated throughout the evening.

The formal awards segment celebrated this year’s GC Powerlist honourees. With assistance from long-time collaborator Isaac Uchiyama who read out awardees’ names, recipients were invited to collect their certificates, pose for photographs, and be formally recognised by their peers.

Certificates were presented on stage by Hiroki Kodate or Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and Jeremy White of Morrison Foerster, whose participation further underlined the deep support of the Japanese and international legal communities.

The GC Powerlist: Japan 2025 reception reaffirmed Legal 500’s commitment to spotlighting the very best of in-house legal talent. With record levels of interest and unmatched quality among candidates, the Japan edition continues to solidify its place as one of the most respected publications in the global GC Powerlist series.

We extend our sincere congratulations to all honourees and thank our partners, sponsors, and speakers for making the evening a success.

We look forward to returning to Tokyo again next year. As a parting gift, you can view Naoki Hamada’s excellent keynote address below, where he touches on a lot of issues and themes that many other GC, whatever country they operate in, will recognise:

‘Good evening, everyone. I am Naoki Hamada of HSBC. I am very pleased to be here speaking to you today. It is a great pleasure and honor, and at the same time, I feel a bit overwhelmed being surrounded by the busiest and most expensive lawyers in the industry—even if I know that nobody will be charging us for their time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Legal 500 for organizing such a great event, and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Morrison Foerster, iManage, SS&C Intralinks, and Just Legal for sponsoring and supporting it. And, huge congratulations on the recognition each of you is receiving, which is truly a great accomplishment and the result of your hard work and the accumulated trust the entire industry has placed in you.

It must be emphasized that this award is given only to general counsels. Being a general counsel means a lot more than just being a subject matter expert. You are a most reliable strategic partner for the business, and I am sure that you have distinguished yourself from the crowd by your ability to identify underlying risks, devise legal solutions, ensure the right processes and governance for corporate decisions, influence others, and educate the next generation of lawyers. This is what you are being recognized for.

Looking back on my career, I have been hugely helped by lawyers in other companies through various industry communities. When I joined the in-house world 12 years ago from a Japanese law firm, large international banks were all struggling with a huge wave of regulatory reform. Back then, I was relatively new to that particular area of finance, and my hiring was somewhat potential-based. Nonetheless, I was assigned to lead the regulatory reform efforts locally. My predecessor had left the bank before I joined, there was no sufficient handover, and I was completely lost as to what to do. What helped me most were the industry peer group discussions, where in-house counsels from major banks would get together to discuss common issues. I learned so much from what was discussed there and absorbed as much as I could. Without that network, I am sure that I wouldn’t have survived that time.

However, our situation today is far more difficult. The changes in the landscape we face today are unprecedented. Technological developments and the corresponding shifts in geopolitical and industrial landscapes are completely unpredictable, and the speed at which they happen is far faster than before. We might face a time that requires us to pivot, forcing us to redefine how we add value and rebuild the way we work. That is somewhat intimidating. But, I am confident that a way forward will be found through the collective wisdom and effort of the people in this room. I would like to be a part of that, and this network of people is enormously valuable and truly priceless.

Finally, let’s have a drink and celebrate our achievements for now – before your CEO calls asking you to join a call! Thank you so much.’